1. Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of document cross-reference. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for the storage, retrieval, and cross-reference of documents.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advent of text processing application programs has enabled the computer to become a viable tool for document creation and storage. A user is able to develop a document by entering the text comprising the document into the computer using such an application program. Typically, the document contents are stored on the computer in what is known as a file.
In a business or government setting there are often generated a large number of documents which contain portions that relate to a common topic. These documents exist in electronic files, typically in a database maintained by the business or government organization. It is often necessary to find and compare, i.e. cross-reference, each discussion of the topic in many different documents on the database. This typically involves a laborious process of opening each electronic file and searching for the topic, either manually or by employing a search utility built into a word processing program.
Commercially available word processing programs such as Word 97, from Microsoft Corporation, and WordPerfect version 8.0, from WordPerfect Corporation, permit the searching of documents by a key phrase. However, when a user is working with multiple documents these programs require the user to manually select and search each document in turn and to select each document sequentially to view the contents of the document that contain the key phrase. This is a time-consuming and laborious process.